Who gets to pocket JPMorgan's $13 billion fine?

The U.S. and its largest bank have tentatively reached a record settlement over shady mortgages

CEO Jamie Dimon
(Image credit: (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

One of the big populist knocks against the Obama administration is that five years after Wall Street banks helped tank the economy by wildly speculating in the housing market, the banks have received only slaps on the wrist and no bank executives are in jail. That latter part may still be true, but the former isn't. America's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, has just agreed to pay $13 billion to resolve a host of issues related to sketchy mortgage-backed securities.

The tentative deal, which might still be scuttled over the bank's reluctance to admit to wrongdoing, is by far the largest single settlement from the 2008 financial crisis, and the biggest ever settlement between the U.S. government and one company. It is also a huge sum of money. (For context: $13 billion is a little more than half of JPMorgan's $23.1 billion in profits from last year).

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.